Originally published on ABC Australia CLICK HERE for the full piece (opens a new window)

Freddy Grant and Burton Reynolds were married in 2016 using a legal loophole for same-sex marriage. Now celebrating their 10th anniversary, Freddy, 41, reflects on their love and the political statement of marrying a year before Australia voted “Yes” to marriage equality.

We met in Darwin on the beach in 2009, where Burt was working his first job out of university and I was a backpacker from the UK.

It was on the cusp of my second year of a working holiday visa. I’d been working on a farm with the most racist people I’d ever met.

And I was also coming out at the time, which was a strange place to be when you’re not so sure of yourself and your sexuality. I wouldn’t recommend.

I saw Burt at the beach party and picked up a vibe that he might be gay. I thought he was really cute.

I was playing my ukulele and singing Beatles songs. He eventually came and sat with me. One by one, everyone drifted off until it was just the two of us. The rest is history.

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